Monday, August 27, 2012

Aaaaarrggh Robbie Burns

That title was meant to be read in a Scottish accent, doesn't quite come through when you write it!

We went to the Robbie Burns festival at Camperdown over the weekend.   It was fun.  A little disjointed with the venues, and to be honest if you drove through Camperdown you would probably have kept driving, you wouldn't have known anything was on.  But it's an event to definitely be built on.

Now for those that don't know Robbie Burns, Wikipedia says:
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide.
And if you still aren't sure who he is, he actually wrote Auld Lang Syne.  In any case there were kilts flying for sure, and Camperdown definitely put on some Scottish weather over the weekend.

Saturday night we went to the Ceilidh.  The event organisers put it on for free, which was quite remarkable and it was so much fun, a packed house.  Everyone was up dancing all night, the caller did an amazing job teaching us the intracacies of movement.  I just went by the old adage if I kept moving it looked like I knew what I was doing.  I think I put a few knee caps out as well!  Mike's dad and partner came also and okay they put us to shame.  Mike's dad is in his 70's and he did not sit down for one dance.  We were knackered to put it bluntly and had to have a rest between dances.  Oh the shame, to be outdone by a 73 year old!

What a great work out though.

Then on the Sunday we went back and had a look through the market, I bought a secret booklet (to be put away from the menagerie to Mike for father's day) on the history of bagpipes.  We went to the council chambers and checked out the statute of the famous Robbie Burns that we were there to pay homage to.

And we climbed the clock tower which was actually pretty cool.  What a view from the top.  Wow.  What a climb too, on very narrow stairs.  The clock bells chimed the half hour while we were up there, which was quite neat.  Funny though, we decided it was easier to climb down the stairs backwards as if going down a ladder and there was quite a gathering at the bottom ready to make the climb up.   Mike was leading the way, and only when I yelled down below "hey Mike, look you've drawn a crowd, they're looking up your kilt" did he try to protect his modesty on the last flight of stairs and cover himself! ha.

Then the grand finale concert with the Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club and the Warrnambool Pipe Band.

A couple of photos of us from the weekend.   The rest will go into a scrap page.   I really don't know why I thought I should stand like a tea pot.   I will entitle this photograph "Shag on a Rock" !   Oh and those camera lovers amongst us may recognise my Ginger camera bag, a la ephiphanie.


And really, he does need to take lessons on how to sit in a kilt, doesn't he?  This will just never do.


So I'm just going to get through this week at work then I have two glorious weeks off, yahoooo!  Four more days to go.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

I didn't fall off the end of the earth!

I'm still here.  Just been working hard and not blogging, hmmmm.

First off to answer Lynn's comment in the last post, I LOOOOOVED the movie the Sapphires.  Probably one of the best movies I've seen for a long time.   I liked that it wasn't the cliche Aussie movie, because honestly we do have the biggest cringe factor in some local movies.  But it was great.  So ... do yourself a favour!!

Apart from that it's been a race to the finish line in the 12wbt program.   The round is over.   And my end result was 10.9 kg loss (or weight I've donated to the universe!!) during the 12 weeks, and if I count the 4 week pre-season a whopping 15.2 kg gone, never to be found again.  That's 33 pounds.  Yippee.

I'm feeling great but know I've still got work to do.  I've signed up for the next round and hope to keep the momentum up.  

On the scrapping front...

I know I like to consider myself as the resident photograph taker of the family, but every now and then Mike gets a pearler.  This photograph of the Port Fairy Lighthouse was from a few years ago.   Mike's cousin Eleanor from Scotland was visiting and on one of the days he was taking her for a visit around the local coastline and and this was one of the photos.  I knew one day I would scrap it, there's something about the spray of water and the red door, just loved the photograph.

So this was the end result.  We make a good team Mike and I !!


Credits Designer Digitals.


So the weather this weekend looks wild.   The forecast is 90% chance of rain.   So we've got to hope we're in the other 10% because we have plans of popping over to the Robbie Burns Festival over in Camperdown.  Near enough to pop over and back during the weekend, so that's a good thing.  But please don't let it rain!!   :-(

So do cross fingers for me won't you?

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Weekend over too soon

We had an absolutely terrific night last night.   Eldest step daughter and boyfriend came for dinner and any semblance of healthy cooking went by the wayside and I made roast pork with all the trimmings and apple crumble and icecream for dessert.  We had such a great night, finally one on one time with Miss T's boyfriend, which we haven't really had before. 

Who knew that this body pierced tattoed young man would have so much in common with Mike.   They sat there talking about history and Egypt and camping and gold detecting and gemstones, all the while Tab and I just rolled our eyes and wondered who was sleeping with who in Hollywood! 

Mike was in his element, finally getting to know this young man that has his daughter's heart.   It's such a different dynamic dealing with the kids as they enter adulthood.  A different dynamic and a GREAT dynamic.   We are both really enjoying the adults the four kids are becoming as they are making their way in the world.   

I mentioned in the last post about my posse (a la Sex and the City).   It got me to thinking about the four of us girls and comparing us to Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte and this is the page that I created today.  Such a lot of fun.  




Well I'm just waiting for Mike to get home and then the leftover vegetables are going to become Bubble & Squeak for him.  I have a soup from one of my freeze ups to thaw out.  Perfect Sunday night fixings.

Friday, August 10, 2012

The joys of living in a small country town

Firstly no natural gas.  Yes that's right, we only have bottled gas here.  But usually you can tell when the gas is getting low.  Hmmmm, but not last night.  

Mike was getting ready for Masons, I told him to at least put his suit on and then I'd have dinner on the table.  So I'm throwing together the sweet and sour pork (a la 12wbt) and the pork was taking an age to go golden brown.  I lift up the wok and barely a flame and then puff it was out.

Mike comes into the kitchen ready to eat, all dolled up with his tuxedo on.

No dinner.   And there was no way I was going to ask him to change the big gas bottle outside with his glad rags on.  And I have absolutely NO IDEA how to hook it up.

Luckily they have a lovely supper on after the meeting, so he filled up there.

I don't know the rules about half cooked pork, whether I could finish cooking it tonight, so the dogs ended up feasting on it tonight.   I ended up buying more pork and lucky man is having his sweet and sour pork tonight, while I go out with the girls.

We're going to see The Sapphires.  I don't know much about it, except that I've heard it's really good.


"1968 was the year that changed the world. And for four young Aboriginal sisters from a remote mission this is the year that would change their lives forever. Around the globe, there was protest and revolution in the streets. Indigenous Australians finally secured the right to vote. There were drugs and the shock of a brutal assassination. And there was Vietnam. The sisters, Cynthia, Gail, Julie and Kay are discovered by Dave, a talent scout with a kind heart, very little rhythm but a great knowledge of soul music. Billed as Australia's answer to 'The Supremes', Dave secures the sisters their first true gig, and fly's them to Vietnam to sing for the American troops. Based on a true story, THE SAPPHIRES is a triumphant celebration of youthful emotion, family and music." 

And we're going "somewhere exotic" for dinner.  Arrrgh.  There goes my diet.  How can I choose carefully if I don't know where we're going.   Wish me luck.

So here are the girls, my posse!  :-)  (if I want to talk like Carrie on Sex and the City).   This is from the recent weekend we spent at Port Fairy.  I didn't take many photos, all very random, the weather wasn't overly conducive to that, cold, wet, rainy, windy.  But we had fun.




I really love these Collegeable Templates from Katie, pop the photos in, add a few elements if you want, and call it done.  

Now, better go get ready!  I have somewhere exotic to go to!!!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Driving here, driving there, driving everywhere!

Yes imagine a BIG SMILE from me right now.  I have my car back.  And to be frank it's driving better than ever.  Feels so good to be back in familiar territory.  Mike's car is lower than mine and I don't like the feel of his gears.  Fussy aren't I?   And as old as it sounds, I'm glad to have my car radio back!  I like listening to talk back radio, and Mike can't get AM on his radio so I couldn't listen to 3AW in my drives in and out to work.  Oh God!  How old am I?  I sound like my grandmother listening to Bruce & Phil ! So all is good once again.  I'm back on the road peoples, watch out.

I've just made a big pot of soup and the kitchen smells delicous.  Thai Pumpkin.  One of our favourites on the 12wbt program.   So we had some for lunch and I've frozen the rest.   I'm about to make another favourite Penang Chicken so I can freeze.  Nothing like some easy meals that fit into the meal plan to come out of the freezer on nights where I can't be bothered.

So as of last weigh in I'm now down 14.1 kg yahoooooo!   That's 31 pounds my friends.  And I'm feeling more than fabulous.

On the scrapping front...

One thing I love about Mike is that he's always up for a photo.  Well most times he is.   I have this feeling that in years to come when future generations look at these albums I'm creating they're going to think we were a generation of nutters.  Truly.  But so be it, we like to laugh, that's a good thing.

Mike recently bought a new sleeping bag.  He had the chance in a recent sale to buy a new super dooper one, that even at the sale price made my knees go weak!  But I know in the early hours when he's out camping the cold can set in, and this was essential for him.   Mind you, he's yet to try it out under the stars, it's been too wet.  But he couldn't wait to try it out at home, and so this page was born... Oh and here's the journalling if you can't quite read it:
Mike couldn’t wait to go camping to try out his new super dooper VERY expensive sleeping bag, so decided to sleep in it on top of the bed one night, until he realised that he didn’t really need a -16 degree bag inside a house with a wood fire! He didn’t last long before I had to help peel him out of the bag in a lather of sweat. Best wait until outdoors!


Credits Designer Digitals.

Well it's been cold, wet and rainy here.  My jungle of a garden remains just that, still a jungle.  But I'm thinking the rest of the afternoon sitting by the fire and knitting is the order of the day.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Tomorrow ... at last !

You may recall that I had a car accident the Thursday before Queens Birthday.  Eight weeks ago to be exact.   Eight long loooooong weeks!

Since then we've had to tag team cars.  Thank goodness Mike works from home, but even him having to walk up to the post office each day is wearing thin.  I think it nearly sent him over the edge two days ago when his 15kg shipment of cane came in (for his reed making) and the post office telling him that they didn't have the storage facilities to hold it until the weekend until he had a car during business hours, being that I had his car to get to work.  So he trudged back home, grabbed the trolley and wheeled the trolley back into town so he could wheel the jolly box home.  I can't even imagine what a sight he must have made.

In those eight weeks I've had to wait for them to decide that yes they will fix the car, then wait for a part to come from Japan which was holding everything up, when it did come and the car got put back together I was told there was a leak and I had to wait for a seal, the seal didn't come when it was meant to so I had to wait some more, then when they put the seal in it didn't fix the leak, they decided that the drive shaft that was put in was the wrong drive shaft which caused the leak, so they had to put another drive shaft in.  To be honest I have no idea what the drive shaft does or even looks like, needless to say it's an important part of the car.

I have been promised a number of times that yes it will be read on Monday, on Thursday, on Tuesday, so each time Mike had driven me in to work thinking I would be driving my car home, only to get a call from me because of X, Y, Z hold up and could he pick me back up again at the end of the day.  That's three hours wasted for him each of those days, 45 mins in, out and then in and out again.

But finally ... FINALLY ... they have told me that it is ready.  It has been washed, and sitting in their holding yard waiting for me.  So failing a meteor dropping from the sky and squishing it, I will be driving my car home tomorrow.  YAY.

It's been quite a stressful 8 weeks.  Sure I know a lot of people are one car families.  But when you live in a little country town with no public transport and have only one car to rely on, it's hard.  I couldn't just pick up and head off on the weekend willy nilly unless I knew Mike didn't need his car.  On nights when he had a meeting or commitment after work, I needed to get home so he could then take the car.  He stopped going camping or doing any long trips himself of a weekend in case something happened to his car and then we'd be totally screwed.

I sound quite whiney don't I?  And I don't mean to.  I know we're lucky to both have wheels, a lot luckier than a lot of people.  So I apologise if I come off sounding like that.

But tomorrow will be back to normal.  Gosh I hope it feels the same.

On the scrapping front...

Last Friday night we had some time with my youngest stepson.   There are some conversations that are just totally scrapworthy, and this was one of them.    Middle-aged, huh!


Credits Designer Digitals.

Oh and in case you can't quite read the journalling:

Tristan: "Hey Carol, have you read 50 Shades of Grey?"
Carol: "Sure have Tristan, why do you ask?"
Tristan: "No reason, I just heard that it's like Harry Potter for the middle-aged woman."


I DON’T KNOW WHAT WAS MORE SHOCKING - THE FACT THAT TRISTAN ASKED ME, OR THAT I’M NOW CONSIDERED “MIDDLE-AGED” IN THE EYES OF MY STEPSON !


Okay so fess up, who's read it????